Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Ecotrust Energy Savings tutorial gains good reception and questions from Prince Rupert City Council




The completion of a study from EcoTrust Canada, which was conducted in collaboration with the City of Prince Rupert met with mostly glowing reviews, as well as a few tough questions on Monday evening from City Council members.

Josephine Schrott from Ecotrust Canada provided for a 
thorough overview of their report for council

The presentation to Council from Josephine Schrott from EcoTrust Canada serving as a companion piece to the extensive overview on Energy  saving opportunities that was relayed through the document which is available on the City of Prince Rupert website.

Some elements  of the final report came out of a consultation with the public held earlier this year

As we noted in our preview of the report from Monday, the work was a collaboration between the City of Prince Rupert and EcoTrust Canada's Prince Rupert Office.

As part of her overview for council, Ms. Schrott touched on many of the themes from the report, focusing on the cost benefits for residents towards home improvements and how they can improve their energy efficiency in their homes and reduce emissions in the community.  

Much of that focus was put towards the savings possible from the use of heat pumps and improved insulation as part of retrofits to local homes.

The presentation also included an update towards their work on a fully funded upgrade support program which would be run by EcoTrust, in collaboration with city staff  which would assist to get the word out towards it.

Upon the completion of her overview, Council members had a few comments towards the report.

Councillor Nick Adey led off the council participation, noting of the opportunity that EcoTrust offers towards consultation for the public when ti comes to what would be their best fit to get their energy costs down.

Councillor Cunningham had questions related to the impact on the call for electricity that would come should a large volume of residents switch over to the electricity model that is proposed, noting how with the city's industrial base also putting a demand on electricity, there may be an unforeseen environmental impact on the province.

"From the other side of it, if we've got 5,000 residents in town here, if half of them were to switch over to heat pumps ...  where would all this electricity come from? 

I was at a convention a little while and I actually asked an Engineer from BC Hydro about the grid and what it can support and can't support, and they readily admit we would need another Two Site C dams just to keep up with what is projected.

We're a small rural town that is already encouraging industrialization which is a lot more electricity and so this is all fine and dandy but the environmental impacts of two more Site C dams, when one Site C dam is so controversial ... I'm looking farther down the road I like this idea I would like to put a heat pump in my house an save some money. 

But the environmental impact on the rest of the province and the rest of the country to upgrade to these things, we don't seem to be looking at the whole picture ... We're always pushing this new technology without really looking past at the impact its going to have ... 

I just wonder where these thought processes go when we're just looking at just Prince Rupert and we don't have the electrical grid right now to support this. And you know we've had industry come here and look at it and say we need more electricity and things like this, it just boggles my mind that we keep looking at the small picture not the big picture. "

Ms. Schrott countered some of those concerns by noting of the significant impact of natural gas on the environment and how that has to be weighed, a swell as to how some of the savings that would balance out some of that energy consumption and how BC Hydro continues to work on the supply side of delivery of electrical service.


On the theme of the impact on the electrical grid, it was somewhat surprising that no one from City Council made mention of the City's recent investment in the Woodworth Dam, a project that was completed earlier this year at some additional cost so as to have the capacity to generate electricity if the city wishes. 

Though at the moment there is nowhere for any of that electricity to be directed, if it were to be generated.

Councillor Forrester noted of the conflicting information available related to heat pumps and how some contractors suggest that they don't work well in the climate conditions found in Prince Rupert, she followed up by asking where residents could find the best source of information towards that.

"I found a lot of conflicting information when I researched it. I came into reading the report with an assumption and I don't know where I got it that heat pumps don't work well in Prince Rupert as a climate and it might be because I heard that in Terrace, that our temperature doesn't have a lot of highs and lows to make it economically viable and this report said something different ... 

Where would I find the most accurate information, because a lot of this does suppose that people would move if they went with this to an electric heat pump, but when I talk to contractors when I talk to different people they say that won't work here. 

So I'm just wondering where I can find the best source of information for that  "

Ms. Schrott observed of the improved quality of the current options from Heat Pumps, noting of some of their installations on the Central Coast and Vancouver Island where the product works well, she also stressed that if you have the right heat pump for the conditions for the area and it's properly installed they would be a good solution.

Councillor Randhawa asked towards any future plans towards sharing information towards their energy savings programs.

Towards that, the EcoTrust analyst suggested their blog as a good resource and plans for future information rollouts to come, as well as the work that they have done with the city's director of Communications Veronika Stewart which will see some of that information relayed through the City of Prince Rupert information streams.

The full document is available from Monday's Council Agenda here.

The full presentation can be reviewed below it makes for the first item of the night from the council session:



The City has also been providing some communication assistance towards the roll out of the report using, the city of Prince Rupert Social Media page this morning to share notes on the Monday evening presentation.



The study and partnership with EcoTrust  was hailed by Mayor Herb Pond in a statement to celebrate the conclusion of the report.

“We’re excited about the opportunities for home energy retrofits in Prince Rupert, and appreciate the work that our partners at Ecotrust Canada have done on this project. Retrofits have been shown not only to benefit the environment, but also the pocketbooks of our residents.”


The City and EcoTrust have partnered in the past, along with the city Council also providing for both moral and some funding support for some of their work in the Prince Rupert area.

Sone snapshots of that engagement can be reviewed below:




The most recent report of Community Enhancement Grants
from the City of Prince Rupert 


More background on the Monday Council session can be reviewed here.

A wider overview of past Council Discussions can be explored here.

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